Nephron CEO Lou Kennedy sells estate on Lake Murray. Here’s how much it went for
Lou Kennedy, the president and CEO of one of Lexington County’s largest employers, Nephron Pharmaceuticals, has sold her three-acre lake-front home for $9.25 million.
The sale broke the record for highest sale on Lake Murray and for the Columbia area, nearly tripling the previous mark of $3.6 million, according to a press release from Southern Visions Real Estate. Property records confirmed Kennedy sold an estate at 218 Captains Watch along Lake Murray to Gail Tourville, of Orangeburg, on March 25.
The realty company did not include the address or the name of the seller in its release and would not confirm it to The State, but the release came one day after a deed to Kennedy’s property, linked to Kennedy through a Southern Home Magazine article from 2022, was signed in the consideration of $8.25 million. The release identified the sellers as having “been heavily involved in Lexington County in the business community.”
A representative for Nephron told The State that no one with the company wished to comment.
Gail Tourville, the buyer, was listed as the wife of the late Frank Tourville in his obituary. Frank Tourville helped open Zeus Industrial Products in Orangeburg, according to his obituary, and his brother, Mike, owned longtime Columbia brewery River Rat before it closed at the end of 2023. The release identified the buyer as someone “whose family has contributed much to the local business community.” Todd Carnes, a local realtor and Lexington town councilman, was one of the realtors who represented the buyers, according to the release.
Kennedy and her husband, William, bought the property, where the house was built, in July 2014, according to property records. The 9,500-square-foot home sits secluded from the road along Lake Murray and features a pool, a boat dock and a custom-built greenhouse, according to the release.
Kennedy, who grew up in Lexington County, brought the Florida-based company to South Carolina in the fall of 2015. The company has grown rapidly since then and, since announcing its initial move to the Palmetto State, has received a number of tax incentives from South Carolina for its economic development efforts.
In recent years, the company has received a number of dings on health inspections by U.S. and Canadian regulators, with inspectors from Canada raising red flags over how Nephron was manufacturing its drugs in March of last year.
